Darkness Embraced
by Lexen
Summary: Narcissa Malfoy makes a choice. Lucius and Severus are not pleased.


**Disclaimer****: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended. J.K. Rowling created it all, and no money is being made from this work of fan fiction.**

**AN: **** I have no beta, and all mistakes are mine. This story is somewhat AU and begins after Lord Voldemort's return but before Lucius is sent to Azkaban. **

** This is a mature story and appropriate for adults. There will be adult content, violence, and dark psychological themes. This story revolves around a triadic relationship between Lucius Malfoy, Narcissa Malfoy, and Severus Snape. If any of that bothers you, please go elsewhere. This story could contain triggers. If you are sensitive, don't read it. By the way, Samhain is a pagan name for Halloween, and Beltane is a pagan name for May Day. The rite that Narcissa refers to at the end of the story is called handfasting though I have put my own twist on the magical version.**

** This story is being submitted for the "Three's a Crowd" Competition on HPFC.**

It was a cool Thursday night in October, a few weeks before Samhain. Severus Snape was pleased to find that he finally would have a weekend to spend with his lovers at Malfoy Manor. After a relaxed day during which Narcissa shopped while Lucius and Severus took care of business in Knockturn Alley, the two men were just beginning to plan for the evening meal when their Dark Marks burned.

Lucius sighed. "So much for dinner, love. I had hoped we could have a leisurely meal with Narcissa when she finished her shopping. Ah well, I wonder what this could be about so close to the revel at Samhain."

Matching his sigh, the dark haired, dark eyed man shrugged, already moving to the closet where they kept their robes and masks.

"I do hope he is in a reasonable mood, and this is not one of those meetings where he decides to crucio everyone just because he can. I could do without another one of those for a while," Severus said as he slipped off his casual robes for his Death Eater apparel.

"That makes two of us," Lucius agreed as he slipped his mask over his face and helped Severus adjust his own.

After leaving a message with a house elf to let Narcissa know where they had gone, they apparated away. When they reappeared, it was to find themselves mounting a shadowy hilltop, lit only be a circle of torches and the light of the moon. Judging by the size of the circle, it was going to be a very select gathering. Behind their masks, Lucius and Severus exchanged curious glances, before locking down their occlumency shields and securing their wands as they walked into the circle.

The Dark Lord was already there, robes billowing behind him in the slight breeze. Gathered around him were Bellatrix, Rodolphus, Alecto, and her brother, Amycus. Lord Voldemort inclined his head to Lucius and Severus as they took their places in the front of the circle. Only one other was present. Kneeling at the Dark Lord's side, wearing Death Eater robes, was an unknown figure. One could not even tell if the figure was masked. The hood was pulled completely over the head, and the hands had been drawn up into the sleeves of the robe. Clearly though, judging by the smirk on their lord's face as he looked down at the kneeling form, this was the reason they had been summoned.

Lord Voldemort wasted no further time. "My loyal Death Eaters, I have called you here now to bear witness to a joyful event. Today, we welcome into our ranks one who has been a silent supporter for years. It pleases me greatly that this one who is so dear to us has chosen at last to formalize their loyalty to me and our cause and to receive the Dark Mark."

Lucius shifted uneasily, not daring to glance beside him at Severus. Who could this be? Someone dear to them? Surely…no, Draco was at school. He had mentioned a major project he had to work on this weekend in his last owl. Draco would never take this step without consulting him first.

So who then was kneeling before their lord?

Voldemort made a signal and the figure in question threw off the hood, to reveal elegant, perfectly manicured hands, long blonde hair, and the porcelain skin and blue eyes of Narcissa Malfoy.

A terrible gasp escaped Lucius as he staggered, too stunned to keep control of himself. Fortunately, the entire circle was reacting in the same way, and the Dark Lord clearly thought the cause sufficient. He did not even raise his wand, merely waited till they were, at least, outwardly calm again.

As for Lucius, his stomach roiled sickly, and he would have broken ranks to grab his wife had Severus not caught his arm, hissing into his lover's ear and forcing reason to temporarily rein him in.

"She is not imperiused, Luc! We shall get an explanation later. For now, this appears to be her choice. Let her be!"

Of course, the Dark Lord heard Severus's words and nodded approvingly to him before pulling Narcissa to her feet long enough to shift them both into a position that gave Lucius and Severus a perfect view of the proceedings. Lucius swallowed hard behind his mask as he watched his wife kneel once more, her robes spread around her as Lord Voldemort took her left arm, pushing the sleeve of her robe and her dress out of the way so that her skin was bared to his wand.

Lucius scarcely heard the words, the vows that Narcissa made. He was too lost in horror as he saw the look in Narcissa's eyes as she stared up at Lord Voldemort. He remembered it well, the darkly exquisite whirlwind of sheer power that came with their lord, the near sexual seduction of he who was their master. And she fell prey to it just like he had, just like Severus had, just like they all had. He hated it. He loved it. He envied her, and he wanted to tear her away from it.

When the Dark Lord pressed his wand to Narcissa's unmarked skin and murmured, "Morsmordre," she screamed, and Lucius bit back a groan as he barely restrained himself from pouncing on her like an animal right there before everyone as their lord's power scalded her inside and out and ravished them all through the Marks they shared. Only Severus's steadying presence at his side kept him from moving.

When Lucius had recovered himself, he found that his lord was staring into his eyes, and the smile on those unnatural lips drove pleasure through him even as he loathed himself for enjoying it.

Narcissa rose to her feet, as gracefully as she could despite the pain they all knew she was in. Lord Voldemort gestured to Amycus who went out of the circle and dragged something back in to throw before the Dark Lord. It was a muggle man, groggy from having been knocked out but otherwise aware and quickly becoming terrified as he took in his captors.

Their lord addressed Narcissa. "Now my dear, while I am aware that you have a household to run and while I have no intention of summoning you every time I summon your husbands, I still need to know that you are capable of obeying me…as well as being the mistress of dark magic that I assume you are. So here is your chance to prove yourself. Crucio him!"

Without hesitation, she drew her wand and pointed it at the terrified muggle. She spoke the curse with an icy confidence that Lucius had never heard from her before. He had never felt so helpless in his life. Horror and arousal spiraled through him as he watched his wife cast an Unforgivable for the first time. He wanted her to stop. He never wanted her to stop. And she was more beautiful than she had ever been.

The man screamed, his voice rising in pitch the longer she held the curse. At last, Lord Voldemort spoke.

"Enough!" Narcissa ended the curse instantly, looking to her lord for his next orders. Lucius had no doubt as to what those orders would be. Their lord didn't like to leave a mess behind. His insides coiled like a snake in loathing and anticipation.

"End this." His words ended in a hiss, and the muggle died in a flash of green light as Narcissa Malfoy cast Avada Kedavra.

Only then did she receive the full force of Lord Voldemort's approval as he took a mask and fastened it over her face, settling her hood around her as everyone automatically did the same. He pulled up his own hood and then turned her to face the others.

"Welcome to the ranks of the Death Eaters, Narcissa Malfoy! May you never live to regret it!"

And he stepped away from her, leaving her to stand alone in the middle of the circle as her compatriots cheered, even as she carefully avoided the death glares of her lovers.

At last, it was over. The Dark Lord dismissed his followers pleasantly, taking a moment to slip an arm around Narcissa's waist in full view of Lucius and Severus. Lucius clamped down on his control, loathing that inhuman arm that was coiling around his wife. Beside him, Severus was so still that he resembled granite, a pose that Lucius knew abundantly well meant that Severus was holding onto his control just as tightly. Lord Voldemort smirked as he kissed Narcissa's hand before bidding them all goodnight and striding off after a very disgruntled Bellatrix Lestrange.

The three of them watched until he was out of sight. Only then, did they unmask. Narcissa was the last, and she removed hers with trembling fingers to meet two bewildered, furious pairs of eyes, one silver, the other black.

She swallowed hard, and the trembling had spread to the rest of her body.

"I want to go home," she whispered. Lucius caught Severus's gaze over her head, and the potions master nodded once. It was time that they got some answers.

Narcissa Malfoy had some major explaining to do.

As soon as they arrived at the manor, Snape slipped down to the basement potions lab to retrieve a burn salve potion for Narcissa. He didn't bother with calming draughts. Knowing Lucius and Narcissa as well as he did, they would refuse them, and he wasn't about to take one himself. He needed to be as clear-headed as possible to deal with the possibility of Lucius losing his temper in a very physical way with Narcissa. It had never happened before, and Severus couldn't imagine his lover getting violent with their wife. But if it was going to happen, now would be the time. Granted, Severus wanted to throttle Narcissa as well, but having watched his father abuse his mother had made that impossible for him.

When he returned, a house elf told him that Lucius and Narcissa had moved to the sitting room that adjoined the master suite. There he found them, both having changed back to everyday robes as he had done. Lucius, his posture as stiff and restrained as Severus had ever seen it, stood ramrod straight in front of a bookshelf, staring at their wife as though he had never seen her before. For her part, Narcissa sat tensely on the edge of a chair, an untouched teacup on the table beside her, holding her left arm in her lap as she stared blankly at nothing in particular.

Snape swept into the room and went immediately to Narcissa's side.

"Give me your arm." Silently, she obeyed, and he tucked her sleeve out of the way to apply the salve to her new Mark as gently as he could. It took only a moment for the inflammation to ease and heal, leaving behind the branded image, ugly and livid and a match for the one on Lucius's and Severus's arms.

"Thank you," she whispered, not meeting his eyes. With exaggerated care, Severus placed the salve container beside Narcissa's teacup. Then, he drew himself up to full height beside Lucius and waited.

After a good ten minutes, Severus began to wonder if they would be waiting all night. But he knew Lucius, and he doubted his lover's patience would hold out that long. He was right.

"Why?" Lucius nearly spat out the word, his usually smooth voice rough and harsh with fury and grief.

She looked up at them.

Lucius made a strangled sound that might have been a gasp, and Severus felt his jaw tighten as they finally met Narcissa's eyes. Never in all the time that Severus and Lucius had known her had they seen the depth of anguish that shown in them now. Not even in reaction to her three miscarriages had she allowed her emotions to show quite so clearly. She had never cried where they could see her, but she was perilously close to it now.

"I will give you three reasons, and then you will leave me be." Narcissa was trembling again, and they knew it had nothing to do with her being cold. "First, I did it for Draco. You two of all people ought to know. Can you not see how much the Dark Lord wants our son and your godson? He wants him as a tool, to be used and manipulated to keep us in line and then to be discarded when he has served his purpose or has proved unworthy to the task. At least as a Death Eater, I have a chance of gaining his favor and using it as leverage when he tries to sink his claws into Draco."

She held their eyes as she continued. "Second…I am drawn to his power in a way I can't quite explain. You feel it too! I know you do. He is seductive. So often now, when I kiss your Marks, I can feel his pleasure through it." She bit her lip. "If I kept running from the snare of the Dark Arts, I was going to end up like Bella, driven mad by it. I have chosen the lesser evil by embracing it."

Lucius looked startled and glanced at Severus whose eyes were wide. But neither of them countered her. This was the reality of Dark Magic. The Light flirted, but the Dark seduced. Surrendering to that seduction was painful, but the punishment was sweet in its own way.

Narcissa stood abruptly, striding to within a breath of them. Her voice shook nearly as much as her body as she grated out her final answer.

"Third and most important is us. Merlin, Luc, Sev, what did we vow to each other when we leapt the fires that Beltane night? Don't you remember? We swore to follow each other _even through the darkest places that we must walk_. I knew that there would come a day when I would have to choose how literally I wanted to interpret that. Those Marks were already on your arms when we went before the old Gods and vowed our eternal love on the point of a wand and a dagger. It is long past time for me to choose. I will no longer leave you to face our lord alone. I love you too much for that."

The silence that followed was deafening. In two pairs of eyes, one silver, the other black, there was suspicious wetness that had not been there before. On two tear streaked faces, smooth, manicured fingers moved to wipe them away. Slowly, three pairs of hands clasped palm to palm, just as they had when ropes and magic had bound them forever before Merlin and Morgana themselves.

"Thank you, Cissy," Severus choked out, and Lucius whispered the same into her ear as the three of them reached for each other. They would embrace the darkness, but they would do it from now on as they had done everything else…together.

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